Beads... Beads... But Not a Sneed

Beads... beads... beads -- but not a single Sneed - no trees had to give their life again in the making of these beads.  We upcycle old magazines, comic books and junk mail that we mostly collect through our local Freecycle.  If you don't know what Freecycle is you should look it up.  It's an awesome way to get things others want to get rid of, or to get rid of something you don't want.

Suffice it to say that we're up to our ears in magazines.  After months of researching, experimenting and massaging sore wrists -- we are beginning to roll out our beads.  Thus far, we have about 40 different styles of beads to bring to you and we'll be gradually adding them to our shop on Etsy and Ebay.

 
We can even make seed beads!  It's amazing how changing the process can create so many shapes.

What Superpower Would You Want?

We just designed a whole new batch of boxes for the new year.  We also created a listing for anyone that wants one done custom.


The empty cigar boxes we use are obtained from a cigar company after they have been used to sell single cigars.  We upcycle them to give them new life.  The comic books are used and come from a variety of sources.

We do special requests.  You can choose your hero theme and whether you want a decorative or wood box.  However, we choose the specific box.  We are limited by what is available and we also like to make sure the box and comic work together in unison.  We take the color and shape of each box into account before beginning its design. 

from Comics to Jewelry

Years ago the Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman were my most favorite thing to read.  Now my beat up old copies have found a new calling.  Soon, we're going to be rolling out these earrings and some bracelets to match.

   

The fun doesn't stop there. We have tons of comic book scraps left over from our custom boxes.  We like to use everything until there's no waste left.  We have all kinds of Marvel and DC Comics themed jewelry in the makings right now.  Email us if you have a specific request.

Valentines Day Gifts: Upcycling to Let You Know We Care

We just rolled out a few special items for Valentines Day.  We recently discovered we could print on bracelets, which opened up a whole new world of fun with these personalized Valentines paper bead bracelets.

     We've also started going through our stacks of upcycle material to find found words.  We found a bunch for Valentines Day.  This opens up whole new possibilities for some children's bracelets we have in the works.  There are a lot of great found words in National Geographic magazines like "Pirates", "Blackbeard", and "nanobots" -- so much fun for future making.                                                                                                                                                                       
Lastly, we bring out the cocoon container beads in a smaller earring version.  They contain hidden messages that can be customized.  



Valentines is right around the corner... we have plenty of handmade ideas for you to make it a special one.

Trash Collection: We’re Looking for Trash to Upcycle

We are currently looking for several items that will be upcycled into something new.  Here’s a list of what we are looking for at the moment.

Magazines

Comic Books (battered is okay)

Cigar Boxes

Coffee Burlap

Corduroy (torn is okay as long as there are good parts to the clothing item)

Junk Mail Flyers (like Kroger, CVS ads – thinner paper and not cardstock)

Send us a message if you have items to donate.

Superheroes & Upcycling

Our upcycled superhero cigar boxes are quickly becoming a best seller.  We’re thinking about allowing preorders before a box is done, and offering made-to-order requests for groomsman gifts.  Here’s what’s being made now:

Topher, one of two of our layout artists, is quickly outdoing himself with this one.  Green Lantern looks like he’s going to step right off of this box.  Thus far, he’s only planned the cover.  Stay tuned to see what else he does with this masterpiece.

Unrolling New Beads

…or rather rolling them up for the new year.

The first batch of beads being offered is here and available in our shops on Etsy, Ebay and Storenvy.  Unlike the beads we’ve made in the past which were designed by cutting and rolling random strips from magazines – these beads are made with strips that are measured and counted to make a specific style of bead.  It’s really quite amazing how many types of beads can be designed from just rolling strips of paper every which way. 

It’s been a little over a year since I started ReInnovations.  My bead rolling obsession began during a visit to San Francisco.  I was working on a campaign at Forest Forever.  A month before I had bought a paper bead bracelet at Whole Foods, and thought it was the most amazing piece of work.  When I was in San Francisco, a man tried to sell me a box that he said contained a laptop.  I gave him some cash – he looked like he needed it pretty bad.  He gave me the box.  I then began to regret taking the box because I realized if there was a laptop in it – it was probably stolen. I was relieved to find that the box was full of magazines.  I had been meaning to start making paper beads, and now I had the incentive to do it.  Those first beads looked really rough.  But after a year – I feel I’ve really gotten it down.

Before I began upcycling paper into beads – I was upcycling coffee bean burlap from local roasters in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  I used the burlap to make messenger bags with a cooperative project called Basement 6.  I plan to pick that project up again in the near future.  I’d also like to begin experimenting with making wrapper bags within the next year.

For now though, it’s all about the beads.